Thursday, August 11, 2016, 9:44PM

I hope that everyone has had a relaxing summer and enjoyed their vacations. As summer is beginning to wind down and fall is just around the corner and we begin our ..........season of hockey, I would like to take a moment to congratulate our new Dual State Lacrosse program. For those of you who don't know, this summer we added boys and girls lacrosse teams to our family. In June, the two teams raised over $1,500 to participate in the 24-hour Shootout for Soldiers event. The girls team had the privilege of playing Friday night, under the lights, on UMass Lowell's Cushing Field while the boys played Saturday afternoon. Both teams made an impression on the field and represented the Dual State organization extremely well. The Boys also participated in the New England Youth All-Star Tournament, in Devens, MA. The team played in the most competitive division, against long-time established clubs and was able to get the program's first official win. Congratulations to all the boys, girls and coaches that made the inaugural Dual State Lacrosse season not only possible but also a tremendous success.

Some may wonder why we have added lacrosse to our family. We believe the best athletes play multiple sports and don't specialize in just one. We believe that lacrosse is a great compliment to hockey and therefore was a great fit at this time. Through our organization we have a strong compliment of lacrosse players and coaches. Half of this summer's boys lacrosse team was comprised of our existing hockey families with several additional players having participated in practices with the team.

We have sought & built a staff of highly respected coaches for both the boys and girls lacrosse programs. As it is with the Dual State hockey program, the focus is on developing the fundamental skills needed to play the game as well as producing well-rounded, high-character lacrosse players.

Tryouts for the Fall 2016 and Summer 2017 youth teams begin this weekend, August 13th & 14th. For more information and to pre-register for try-outs, please go to www.dualstatelacrosse.com